Judging from the size of Comic-Cons, there is a superhero in just about everyone that wants to come out.
There's even a a test on this website where you can find out which superhero you're closest too. I'm closest to the Hulk who is one of the most dysfunctional hero in comics. You can find a list of the most screwed up dorks here.
For most people, superheroes are just fantasy role playing games. Wouldn't it be great if we were dynamic powerful beings instead of weak, boring humans?
It would be amazing if the mythology of superheroes was based on subconscious memories rather than childlike imagination? They started off well, but because of lack of training or moral direction, they ended up like characters in "Kick Ass". Some of them may have even destroyed civilizations like in Star Trek's "The Survivors".
It does look like there are no superheroes on Earth, but in actual reality there's no A-list, B-list, C-list heroes like Superman, Thor, Spiderman and The Green Lantern. In the battle of the Gods in ages past, there was much collateral damage to innocent humans. This was probably a civil war that was similar to what happened in the Q Continuum. The beings responsible had their powers reduced by "The Supreme God of The Universe".
Earth could use a powerful robot like Gort in "The Day The Earth Stood Still", but so far none of the Z-listed superheroes on Earth have made it that far.
A true superhero would have discovered the bases of Bid Laden/al Queda/the Taliban much sooner and saved thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One of these days, I'd like to move from a Z-list superhero to at least a C-list one. Any superhero on this dirt ball is better than none.
St Johns